BASEBALL; Yankees Look for Answers as Injuries Mount

By TYLER KEPNER

Published: April 13, 2007

Whenever a Yankee gets hurt, General Manager Brian Cashman investigates the injury to find out what caused it and how it can heal. This has been a common exercise for Cashman during the past month, and that is not how he planned it.

Cashman revamped the Yankees' strength and conditioning program last winter, hiring Marty Miller to run it and promoting Dana Cavalea to be his assistant. Despite a rash of muscle-related injuries to five important Yankees in the past four weeks, Cashman is standing by his hires.

''I'm constantly evaluating everything we do,'' he said in a telephone interview. ''But do I blame Marty and Dana for this? No.''

The latest injury is to Mike Mussina, who left his start in Minnesota on Wednesday with a strained left hamstring. Mussina reported to the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., for treatment on Thursday's day off, and Cashman, who spoke with Mussina, said he had not made a decision on whether to put him on the disabled list.

The Yankees play the Athletics this weekend and return to Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, when Darrell Rasner will start in Mussina's place against the Cleveland Indians.

''No one's ruling the D.L. out, but it seemed like it was light,'' Cashman said, referring to the severity of Mussina's strain. ''Whatever it was, he caught it early and wanted to make sure it didn't become a long-term problem. It's possible he might miss only one start. It's too early to tell if he'll need the disabled list.''

Cashman said he did not know what might have caused Mussina's hamstring injury, which Mussina said Wednesday was the first in his long career. But Cashman said there were many reasons the other injuries could have occurred, apart from Miller's new program, in which some players have declined to participate.

Starter Andy Pettitte hurt his back lifting weights on March 19, but he avoided the disabled list. So did outfielder Johnny Damon, who strained his right calf April 2. Starter Chien-Ming Wang (March 23) and outfielder Hideki Matsui (April 7) are on the disabled list with hamstring strains.

''They're all different,'' Cashman said. ''It's tough to see if there's a common denominator. Is it based on our strength and conditioning program? I would not say that's the case.''

The Yankees are hardly the only team with health concerns. Injuries are up by 30 percent across the major leagues compared with the last four years, Cashman said. He added that muscle injuries were not new to the Yankees.

Last season, Cashman said, the Yankees used the disabled list four times for hamstring injuries (Miguel Cairo, Robinson Can?ubba Crosby and Aaron Small) and had seven muscle-related disablements in all.

''Injuries are up all over the game,'' Cashman said. ''They're certainly up with us. But things happen.

''We're just having them happen in a bunch early.''

Cashman said Wang has had no setbacks, but he still has not been cleared to make a rehabilitation start. With Mussina and Jeff Karstens (elbow) also down, there is more pressure on Kei Igawa to prove he belongs.

Igawa faces Oakland's Danny Haren on Friday. In his debut last Saturday against Baltimore, Igawa was shelled for seven runs on eight hits and three walks in five innings.

''It's not there yet, but physically and mentally I feel great, and I'll do my best on Friday,'' Igawa said through an interpreter Wednesday. ''I don't want to repeat the same pitching I did in the first outing. Hopefully, this will be a lot better.''

Igawa said he often started seasons slowly in Japan, but when he was on his game, he usually threw strikes early in counts. With the Yankees, though, he has struggled to command his pitches.

While his overall spring training results were good, Igawa was wild at times, walking 12 in his first 17 innings.

Against the Orioles, the Yankees' pitching coach, Ron Guidry, said Igawa's sliders and curveballs were high, and his changeups were in the dirt.

''He's cutting everything off and not finishing his delivery,'' Guidry said. ''Until he does it consistently, all the time, he'll struggle. But that's the secret to any pitcher's success.''

One scout who saw several of Igawa's spring starts gave him a mixed review. The scout, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, was unimpressed with Igawa's body language, which made him seem indecisive on the mound. But his stuff was decent, the scout said.

''The thing that surprised me was for a guy that was known to be a strike thrower, his command of the fastball was off during spring training,'' the scout said. ''Jorge Posada would be setting up on the outside part of the plate, and he's throwing it to the inside part.

''But I also saw one game where he struck out four right-handed hitters with sliders. That pitch must be deceptive, because it wasn't thrown real hard and it didn't have that nasty tilt. But it's sneaky.''

The scout guessed that Igawa could have simply been unnerved by making his first major league start, and Manager Joe Torre said Igawa might have been trying too hard. Igawa said he was more excited than nervous.

''That might have played a little role,'' he said. ''Excitement is not going to be part of the issue. I'll do my job to the best of my abilities.''

The Yankees do not yet know how that ability will translate to the majors. But Igawa is healthy, at least, and for the Yankees, that is a start.

Photo: Mike Mussina, center, left Wednesday's game in the third inning with a strained left hamstring. He will miss his next start Tuesday. (Photo by Eric Miller/Reuters)